How to Keep a Home Tidy and Organized:

I actually have become an organized person out of necessity, due to my ADHD and the fact that I have a low tolerance for juggling tasks and remembering things. My short attention span makes me forgetful. Therefore, I need to keep things really simple for myself in order to keep all my ducks in a row… lest I forget a duck. Regardless of whether or not you have ADHD, the following tips will help you keep your home tidy and organized because these rules are universal.

The best way to keep a home tidy?  It comes down to practicing these 3 key habits: Assigning homes for everything you own, simplicity, and owning less stuff.

1. Have a designated home for everything you own.

I learned early on that everything in my life needs to have a permanent home in order for me to keep track of things. Though our home is not perfectly organized all of the time, we can keep it looking fairly presentable without much effort simply because everything has a home. 

Since everyone in my family knows where everything belongs, things are usually put back when we are done using them. Nobody does this perfectly, and as you might guess, some family members are better at it than others. But we have established the habit of doing it most of the time, which goes a long way in maintaining order overall.

If you never get around to assigning homes to every singe thing you own, you and your family will never learn to practice this habit.  As a result, you won’t be able to find things when you need them.

2. Keep Organizational Systems Simple:

Simplicity Vs. Perfection.

When talking with an acquaintance a while back; she asked me how my organizing business was going and then asked, “So are you one of those people who likes to have everything just so?” I laughed and told her that I’m not a perfectionist if that is what she was asking.  But I do like to be able to find things when we need them.

Being a perfectionist can actually hinder your efforts to keep your home tidy. Because it can cause you to procrastinate with every organizing project you face. You can’t get your home organized if you can’t figure out how to get started. If you push yourself to just get started, having a home that stays mostly tidy but not perfect will naturally follow.

I don’t spend a lot of energy fussing over and making sure everything is perfectly organized in our home because this would be an impossible feat. If you can make peace with the fact that your home will never be perfect and instead work on keeping things mostly organized, you’ll feel more satisfied with your home overall.

Focus on easy maintenance, easy clean up and easy access.

Simple organizational systems are better than complicated ones because they are easier to maintain and use. If you are struggling with keeping a particular space organized, think about how you might be able to simplify it. Or maybe reduce your inventory so you have less to organize. Do this before you invest in more elaborate organizing products to manage it all.

Some spaces, like sewing or craft rooms, do require more intricate organizational systems because you are dealing with so many small items that need to be sorted. But most of the time, simple, open containers that are easily accessible are all you need to keep related items together and organized.

Then you can establish the habit of putting things back in their assigned homes once they have one. You also want to make sure everything is super easy to access and put away so that minimal effort is required for upkeep. 

3.  Declutter with a vengeance to keep your home tidy. 

Make a strong effort to declutter your home and frequently get rid of things that you are no longer using.  This is really the biggest secret to staying on top of keeping your home tidy.  We have a donate box set up in our storage room and every family member knows to toss the things that they no longer want into the box. 

I take several boxes to a charity at least twice a year, and I am always surprised at how fast the boxes fill up.  Things come into our homes on a constant basis, so we need to make sure things are going out regularly as well.

Has your home exceeded its clutter threshold?

Every home has a clutter threshold, which is best described as how much stuff your home can comfortably hold in its storage spaces and still be user-friendly.

Once your home, or a space in your home, has exceeded its clutter threshold, it starts to feel cluttered and disorganized, and the space becomes less functional. The farther a space gets pushed past its clutter threshold, the more pronounced the problem becomes and the more chaotic it feels.

Think of a bedroom closet, for example. If your closet is not overstuffed, you should be able to put away, store, find, and retrieve things with minimal effort. Everything has a place, and everything is easily accessible. If you are looking for a specific item of clothing, you know exactly where to find it because it has a designated location and is easy to locate.

But once you have too much stuff stored in that closet, it becomes frustrating to even go in there. Clothing is crammed too tightly on the clothing rod, making it hard to find and get to a shirt you may be looking for. Lots of things are stored behind other things, making it hard to get to those things. Perhaps the floor is covered with stuff as well, making it hard to walk around inside your closet. You get the point.

Check your home for these 3 signs that your home has exceeded its clutter threshold:

1. Your storage spaces; cabinets, drawers, closets, are all filled to the max. Every time you open a closet, drawer, or cabinet door, things spill out. It’s a hassle to try and find things inside these storage spaces because too much stuff is crammed in there.

2. Every time you tidy up your home and get everything put away, it all seems to return in no time.

3. Multiple items never even get put away because you don’t have a place to put them. Instead, they sit out in the open, on floors and countertops making your home look and feel cluttered.

Always keep in mind that the more stuff you have in your home the harder it will be to keep it all organized. By keeping your organizing systems simple, owning less stuff, and assigning a home to everything you own, you’ll be able to create the organized and tidy home you have always dreamed of.

How can I make this easier for myself?

Staying organized has less to do with trying to achieve perfection and more to do with keeping things simple, lightening the load, and establishing and sticking to helpful habits and routines. We should always ask ourselves the same question when we are overwhelmed with staying organized.  How can we make this simpler so that we can minimize maintenance, simplify our life and feel more peaceful at home?